Top 5 Racers with Sad Pasts
Not all racers are as lucky as Aiken Axler or Kevin Shiftright who are in big loving families. Some racers have had really sad poor pasts. In random order. 5. Cole Speedland Cole Speedland's past was ok (despite his dad dying in WW2) until the age of 16 when he, his 14 year old brother Robert and his mom Barbara were on the highway returning from vacation. An oil tanker had spilled oil on the highway and couple cars in front of them slipped. While Cole and Robert avoided the wreck. Barbara was tagged by a Male 1959 Cadillac and she flipped thrice before landing in a ditch. Barbara was critical so Cole had to manage the house. Barbara survived. There is a happy ending because in 1987 it was Barbara's turn to return the favor as Cole was in critical condition recovering from severe infection from his Easy Idle 400 at Nightdona crash where she had stayed in the hospital with him until he was released. 4. Zeb (Sidewall Shine Backup) Zack Zebson (nicknamed Zeb) had a tragic life. His mom died when he was 5 and his dad abused him from when he was 5 to when he was 13 in which he was finally kicked out of the house. After that Zeb also struggled when he was in his late teens getting no job and living in a scrapyard using scrap parts to repair himself in case he got damaged as well as making a storage for stuff he gathered. Zeb somehow had enough energy to attempt to sign up a a backup racer, he got accepted and was signed up as backup racer for Sidewall Shine in 2000, he was very weak and frail but he performed well in 2003 after Slider's crash and got money, bought a house and slowly rebuilt his life. Zeb is now married and a father to one son and three daughters. 3. Michael Smith Michael Smith had the 3rd saddest life. His mom, dad and older brother died in a house fire when he was 12. He had a tragic life and continued to have it for his life. Michael was homeless for a long time. In 1967, he signed up for Leak Less after Gordon Tireson retired. His life, though, was still tragic. He, however, had a happy ending when his first win was the 1969 Belle 500 with Joe Allen Foyt 2nd, The King 3rd and Mario Andretti 4th. 2. Perry Douglas Perry Douglas is an example of a sad past with a happy ending. Perry was very very poor. So poor that he and his parents were almost homeless. His father worked as a wheel polisher but unfortunately Perry's dad was killed in the World War. Perry and his mom lived with Perry's uncle. Perry liked to race. In 1955 he was one of the top racers in his high school and was soon sent to a racing school. Perry then against all odds was signed for Easy Idle, one of the best sponsors and started a relatively good Piston Cup career. He used his funds to buy a house for his mom and for himself. 1. Parker Brakeston Parker Brakeston has the most tragic life ever brought to a Piston Cup racer. In the 1989 Nightdona 500, Parker was near Nightdona Speedway's start/finish line and caused Ron Pitcar to crash. Parents Abigail and Peter as well as Joseph, his younger brother who was 8 at the time, died in a house fire when he was 11 back in September 10, 1996. All of Parker's stuff and toys were lost as well. After that Parker lived with Chip Gearings but Parker was severely bullied in middle school. Parker still had his friend Chip until the age of 17, back in 2002, in which Chip moved away to another state. Poor Parker suffered depression but was interested in racing and signed up for N20 Cola. He served as backup for Manny Flywheel in 2006 and went rookie in 2007. Parker raced until he was fired in 2015 which got him back into a depression. He occasionally races in the stock cars vs next gens team races and legends vs next gens races. Parker does not appear in public much now and lives privately with his wife Amy who is helping Parker with his depression. MTV and VH1 interviewed him in 2015 after he got fired because they wanted to know how sad his life was. After that, they started to cry along with 1969 Pontiac GTO. Category:Top 20/15/10/7/5/3 Moments